On Media

N.Y. Times explains disappearing quote

By MACKENZIE WEINGER and DYLAN BYERS

09/13/2012 09:46 AM EDT

The New York Times is standing by its decision to change a report on Mitt Romney's response to the attacks in Libya and Egypt, as well as its decision to drop a controversial quote in which a Romney adviser attacked the candidate.

The Times' initial story last night, by David Sanger and Ashley Parker, reported that Romney had personally approved his campaign's political attack on President Obama. But a few hours later, the story had transformed into a radically different piece by Parker and Peter Baker that did not include an anonymous quote from an adviser who said Romney "‘had forgotten the first rule in a crisis: don’t start talking before you understand what’s happening.”

"As reporting went on during the day yesterday, we were able to flesh out the story, add more context and get more sources on the record, which is obviously what we prefer. Having said that, we stand by the reporting in all versions of the story," New York Times spokesperson Eileen Murphy told POLITICO.

Asked how removing a quote from a story provided more context, Murphy said, "We removed a few quotes from sources that were unnamed and added in sources who were on the record, and most important, we stand by all of the reporting in all versions of the story."

The Times also first reported a Romney "senior adviser" explaining the rationale behind the Tuesday night statement, with the reporters writing that Romney and his team "saw what they believed was an opportunity to underscore a theme Mr. Romney had sounded often about his Democratic rival."

“We’ve had this consistent critique and narrative on Obama’s foreign policy, and we felt this was a situation that met our critique, that Obama really has been pretty weak in a number of ways on foreign policy, especially if you look at his dealings with the Arab Spring and its aftermath,” the first story quoted the adviser as saying. “I think the reality is that while there may be a difference of opinion regarding issues of timing, I think everyone stands behind the critique of the administration, which we believe has conducted its foreign policy in a feckless manner.”

In the later story that replaced Sanger and Parker's piece, policy director Lanhee Chen is quoted as saying, “While there may be differences of opinion regarding issues of timing, I think everyone stands behind the critique of the administration, which we believe has conducted its foreign policy in a feckless manner.”

"As we reported more through the day, we found Republicans criticizing Gov Romney on the record, so why use an anonymous one?" Baker said. "There are too many blind quotes in the media and we try not to use them when it's not necessary."

Here's why: Because there's a big difference between "Republicans" and a Mitt Romney campaign adviser.